Garrett GTAx 550

Great Detector

May 08, 2012

I have used all sorts and brands of detectors in the past 20 years, from
very cheap to very high end, and I really like this detector.
It has auto ground balance, good ID and depth, and is extremely easy to
use, but powerful and sophisticated enough to keep once you become skllied
and experienced.
It is a great all-around detector, with a primary focus of coin-shooting,
which it does well.
If you are serious about one aspect of detecting, such as relics, or gold
prospecting, you would probably want to invest in a dedicated single
purpose, and much more expensive detector, but for most of us, in regular
usage, the GTAx 550 is perfect.

Overall RatingLittlehugger from
Baltimore

127

Great Detector!

January 10, 2012

I had a Garrett 500 that got wet and would not work anymore. However before
it broke I found a 1945 walking liberty half dollar with it. Having success
with it I purchased the model that replaced it, the GTAx550. Great machine
also. Turn on and go. Great ground balance and very easy to set what you
want to look for and what you don't.
The pinpoint function works great and so does the depth reading. I really
like this machine. The battery compartment can unclip from the machine and
clip onto your belt making a light machine even lighter. I can't wait for
warmer weather to get out and hunt some more. Hope this helps take care!

Overall RatingPhil from
Blanch, North Carolina

155

Garrett GTAx 550

December 26, 2011

I bought one these and it was light and well-balanced. The depth was
excellent: it gave the Minelab Sovereign a run for its money, and the
Garrett had a smaller coil and a brisker sweep speed.

I found the depth gauge to be really useful for working out how large
targets were as well as how deep. If, for example, you lifted the coil a
foot off the ground and the depth on the gauge doubled you knew you had a
very large (not coin-sized) object about a foot down.

The Garrett's Achilles heal is it's target ID/discrimination. To be fair,
this has been the case with all the VDI style machines I've used. I ended
up only digging signals that gave a clear bell-tone because anything less
wasn't reliable.

I don't remember digging much iron though and it did pull deep coins. I
think this is a slightly maligned machine, perhaps its weight gives it a
toy-like quality but it really isn't.

Overall RatingPolly from
Shropshire, England

111

Goods and bads with gtax550

March 29, 2011

Bought a Garrett detector back in the mid 80's. Can't remember the model,
but it costs $399.00. Loved it right out of the box. Unfortunately it was
stolen, so my wife bought me a White's XLT. Good detector but decided to
buy another Garrett in the same price range as the old one, the GTAx500. It
is a good detector and well built as the old one. But I have some problems
with it.

1. Detecting the same parks that I had no problems before with my White's,
it gives off a lot of erratic crackles. Turning down the sensitivity helps
some, but still annoying.

2. The discrimination is not very consistent. Will still sound off in areas
that were supposedly canceled out.

3. The bell tone audio ID is more of an annoyance that a help. If you scan
a good target, it will give the bell tone in both directions of the sweep,
but on bad targets, many times it will give a bell tone in one direction,
then not in the other. So I find myself continually rechecking targets
because of the bell tone, not to mention having to check the ID screen,
which defeats the purpose of the audio ID to begin with. My old White's had
the same feature, which wasn't that much better, but at least I could
program that feature out. That's not an option with this detector.

Garrett's good point:
1. Very solid and well built. Very light and well balanced. The removable
battery compartment makes it even lighter.

2. The recovery rate of the Garrett is second to none. Which can be great
in trashy areas.

3. Good depth strength. Gives solid signals even on deeper targets.

4. I love the simplicity of this detector. A simple key stroke on this
machine can be multiple key strokes on my White's.

I still do have a lot of faith in Garrett products,(I absolutely love their
Pro Pointer) and I am sure that this detector will be just a matter of
learning its language. But that was something I didn't have to do with my
old Garrett. To me it goes back to the old saying, "If you've got a great
product, why try fixing it?" And, as far as I'm concerned, out of the box,
that 25 year old detector was better than this one.

Overall RatingRick Nickolaus from
Seattle, WA USA

113

Better than not having a metal detector.

April 06, 2009

I am a rookie at detecting but mark my words it is worth in invsesting. I
live along the coast and have found rings class rings you name it and has
returned them back to their rightful owners. Its very good at pinpointing
but if it marks it, it means its there. I am a proud owner and have no
regrets ;) Hope this has helped

Overall RatingFanmegaman from
Pismo beach, CA USA

265

Not too impressed

September 10, 2007

I have a Bounty Hunter Quick draw II and I wanted to up grade so I got the
Garrett 500.

The Garrett has higher quality materials and more bells and wistles but is
very unstable around here. I don't know why because the QD II does just
fine even with it's preset GB. The Garrett should do better with it's auto
GB.

Agreed, a good unit for the money

April 24, 2006

I have used the GTAx-550 for about two years and have found an 1850 large
cent, and a six-inch-deep 1877-S dime in a park I've hunted for nearly 20
years, not to mention a small silver cache and a number of other coins and
relics. It is a good middle-of- the-line detector. I used its
predecessor, the old GTA-500, for about twelve years, and that machine paid
for itself four or five times over, at a conservative estimate. I found
coins dating back to the colonial era with that detector, and a rare War of
1812 US Light Dragoons beltplate that I sold for $1,000, despite its being
bent, corroded, and ugly.

Here are some minor criticisms of the Garrett machines I have used:

1. Jumpy target ID (though I have learned to "read between the lines" and
interpret some of those strange readings. To be fair, most if not all
machines will perform erratically over certain targets, like large
iron).

2. Less accurate discrimination than other brands I've tried (when set to
reject something, the machine still beeps and ID's targets in that range
sometimes). Is my sensitivity set too high? Maybe. But I still say the
Bounty Hunter, Fisher, Tesoro, and Troy detectors I have used had much
cleaner discrimination.

3. Fairly poor salt water beach performance, even when sensitivity is
reduced. I could never get my old GTA-500 to work at all on the beach,
despite the manufacturer's claims. I have gotten the GTAx-550 to work, but
I felt its performance wasn't great. I've seen other folks with cheaper
Garrett detectors do okay on the beach, though. I think my lack of success
there is due partially my own lack of beachcombing expertise, but not
entirely so.

4. The owners' manuals I have read were long on hype and short on useful
information. They provided some useful info, but they also tooted their
own horn too much and gushed about the product.

Those are my only real criticisms. Everything else is good.

I have noticed that nail and bottlecap rejection on the Garrets I have used
(GTA-350, GTA-500, GTAx-550, GTI-2500) is pretty good, at least in my soil
conditions, and better than some other brands I've used. I've used Fishers
that seemed to love nails- I guess every machine must have that one trash
item it really loves. The Garretts seem to like foil- it often reads in
the nickel range.

Overall I have more experience with the GTA-500 and its modern counterpart,
the GTAx-550, than with any other model or brand of detector. Sure, they
have their quirks, but the fact that I've used them for more than a decade
should tell you something- they're good machines.

Overall RatingRob Shinnick from
Golden Isles of Georgia

652

Verty good unit for the money

July 10, 2005

Bought this unit a couple of months ago. It was very easy to get going with
it..I reccommend following Garrett's advice in the video and use the turn
on and go mode the first few hours to get used to how it reacts to
different metals. I have had a lot of fun using it to find coins. It does a
very good job of locating them and the pin point feature works well. The
weight has not been a problem for me and I'm not a very big guy. It seems
to be balanced pretty well. The only con I have found is that the pin point
button is sometimes hard to keep depressed when you are in the pinpoint
mode...All in all I have been very pleased with it so far.

Overall RatingJohn Stark from
Wichita, Ks

192

Great Starter Machine

December 11, 2004

This is a good machine to start with
as it truely is a turn on and go detector. Depth & ID features are
accurate, and the cointone feature is
helpful. Not so good aspects are its weight, somewhat slow response, and
the battery carriers are
somewhat delicate.